Digital Program - In the Conservatory with the Knife

Celebrating local dance,

In the Conservatory with the Knife

by

Dance Project

In the Conservatory with the Knife

Choreographed by: Emily Bernet & Taylor Rodman

Performers: Emily Bernet, Tay Diggs, Willow DuBose, Ally DesJardins, Shadden Hashem, Heather McKay, Taylor Rodman, Ally Van Deuren

Written by: Katie Bernet

Music: Various Artists

Lighting Design: Aaron Johansen

Sound Engineering: Jeff Kinsey

Emily Bernet is a native of Dallas, TX, and Co-Artistic Director of Bomb shell Dance Project. She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and was a founding member of Joshua Peugh’s Dark Circles Con temporary Dance USA. Her work for Bombshell Dance Project has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, The Dallas Arts District, The Dance Gallery, Austin Dance Festival, among others. Emily has also created movement for Fair Assembly’s Macbeth, Cry Havoc Theater Company, Southern Methodist University’s Spring Awakening, and Ruben Carrazana’s The Cube

Tay Diggs, a native of Baltimore, MD, started her formal dance training at Carver Center for the Arts and Technology and Towson University’s Community Dance Program, which led her to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts

in Dance and Choreography, and a Certificate in Global Education from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018. She has had the opportunity to complete extensive training programs with the Ailey School, PhilaDan co!, and ArcDanz Mexico. Since graduation, her professional dance career has been spent teaching dance to the youth across the DFW area and performing as a member of Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Encore!, B. MOORE DANCE, and Urban Performing Company. You can find Tay in the studio with her students, leading the best fitness sessions at SPENGA, or on stage as a freelance artist. She’s looking forward to joining Bombshell Dance Project for this amazing work!

Willow DuBose is a creative artist who strives to develop a space in which our energetic body, in correlation to human nature, is prioritized through movement. She explores this through improvisation scores and through forward-thinking teaching exercises. As a Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumna, Willow has had the opportunity to perform works by artists such as Peter Chu, Azure Barton and Kyle Abraham. She has been honored as a YoungArts finalist and award winner, as well as a Presidential Scholar at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. There, she performed works by Robert Moses and Margo Sappington. As she moves forward with her career, she will continue exploring the creative space in collaboration with other artists, while developing her concepts for new choreographic works that encompass her appreciation for intuitive movement and our innate ability to emote as humans.

Ally DesJardins is a native Minnesotan and a graduate of Belhaven Uni versity. While studying at Belhaven, Ally achieved her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She received the Bezalel Award for outstanding artistic achievement from BU in 2017 & 2020. Ally has received training through companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bruce Wood Dance, Zion Dance Project, Bomb

shell Dance Project and studied under choreographers such as Nancy Stark Smith, Ravenna Wagnon, Marc Wayne, and Joy Bollinger. In addition to dancing, Ally holds a strong passion for people!

Shadden Hashem is originally from Dallas, TX, where she attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Purchase in 2021 with a BFA in dance and a minor in psychology. Currently, Shadden is a professional freelance dancer and choreographer. Over the course of the past year, she has performed and toured internationally with Boca Tuya, a New York City based dance company, performed with the Moving Forward Collective under the direction of Madi Hicks in NYC, as well as collaborated on an evening-length work set on the Bombshell Dance Project second company. Some of her accomplishments include being named a 2016 Texas Young Master and receiving the 2021 Outstanding Senior Award for Dance at SUNY Purchase. In addition to performing and choreographing, Shadden has a love for photography and teaching dance!

Heather McKay lives in Dallas, TX, and holds a BFA in Modern Dance, a minor in Child Development and a Pilates Teacher Certificate from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Her early dance training was at Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where she performed works by Azure Barton, Dwight Rhoden, and Robert Battle. Highlights while at TCU include performing works by guest artists Joy Bollinger, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Jennifer Nugent, Francisco Aviña, and Liz Lerman, as well as holding an internship at Cook Children’s Hospital providing fine arts experiences to patients. Alongside dancing

professionally in the DFW area, Heather now teaches Pilates and works at a Pediatric Occupational Therapy clinic. She hopes to soon pursue further education in Occupational Therapy to integrate her love for children, movement, and health.

Taylor Rodman is a Dallas native, and the Co- Artistic Director of Bomb shell Dance Project. She began her formal training at Booker T. Wash ington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and later earned her BFA in contemporary performance at The Boston Conservatory with an emphasis in improvisation and choreography. Taylor joined Joshua Peugh’s Dark Circles Contemporary Dance for one season. Her work for Bombshell Dance Project has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow Inside/ Out Festival, The Dallas Arts District, The Dance Gallery, and Austin Dance Festival, among others. Rodman was named a 2012 YoungArts Finalist and Presidential Scholar in the Arts in choreography.

Ally Van Deuren is thrilled to be working with Bombshell! Favorite DFW acting credits: Cabaret (Sally Bowles) at Uptown Theater Grand Prairie, Guys & Dolls (Hot Box Girl/Havana Dancer) and Anything Goes (Angel) at Lyric Stage, White Christmas (Judy Haynes), Music Man (Zaneeta Shinn) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Millie u/s) at The Firehouse Theatre and The Drowsy Chaperone (Janet van de Graaf) at Repertory Company The atre. Production credits: A Christmas Carol (Assistant Director) at Dallas Theater Center, Daddy Long Legs (Associate Producer) at Lyric Stage, and the world premieres of Oswald (The Firehouse Theatre) and Slide By (dir. by Jacob Nice for Elevator Project at AT&T Performing Arts Center). She had the pleasure of working in operations and ticketing at the 2019 Tony Awards® for the American Theatre Wing. BFA: SMU Meadows School of the Arts.

Katie Bernet lives in Dallas, TX, where she writes young adult novels and the occasional poem. She’s an active member of the DFW Writers Work shop, an advertising copywriter, and a dance enthusiast. You can find her on Instagram @ katiebernet